Mis Mg shovel ^as .lust at the summit, cutting its ••'ay through a 
nan ow ridge- As ~e passed and emerged from the western end we got 
a comprehensive view of the Lava Feds. The three Sisters, North, 
South and Middle, dominate the cascade ridge here. They are ex. 
tifiott or sleeping volcanoes- 'Me last eruption was recent, I have 
hesr^d it estimated at from 153 to 300 years ago, and the lava 
has flowed round the peaks and the smaller tills on the ridge like 
rivers. The former formation was sandy and the summits of many hills 
dust have their tops out of the swirl of the black and sullen tor¬ 
rents* These islands may have an acre, covered with timber, or 
perhaps, 10, and the stream laps the very roots cf the trees- It 
"*as a tortured, flood, black and bubbling, crossed and recrossed by 
pressure ridges, craters and pyramids, heaps of always this 
black bubbly scum. And thousands up thousands of acres of it- The 
road for some four miles is lust, a track no wider than the tires 
and I can remember no chance to turn out except once in a while 
yttu may cross a sandy islet- The pioneers who picked out the trail 
across this waste deserved great credit and below at Me Kenzie 
Bridge there is a basalt boulder with a bronze tablet in their hon¬ 
or. ' r ’The growth on the summit is for the most part pine, running as 
one descends into mountain hemlock and down the west slope a bit 
one comes out on extensive alpine meadows which in the spring must 
be carpeted Mth grass and bright with flowers. As one drpps down 
from the summit into the valley one comes out on the new road, 
broad, almost snow white with crushed granite and as smooth as a 
tennis court for miles. Me fir begins and the trees get larger* It 
is harft to realize that only a few miles behind .lifts the arid land 
with its pines and junipers and here are the firs and hemlock® fcith 
■their shaggy manes of moss. The road runs through a extendid forest 
of firs and suddenly one finds he is not alone, but there is a 
mighty river running beside him- I had no idea there was water near 
us till we burst out on the bank. Aa rivers go, it is not a great 
